Set In Stone
by Never Change Me
Summary: History may be written, but the future is said not to be set in stone and anyone can affect the future. Maybe the gods were being merciful when they brought a young girl into the lives of the Stark family, but will she be enough to stop some of the events that are destined to happen and will fate prevent her from changing the fate of her new friends and family?
1. I: Theon

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this but I hope you enjoy it.**

**Also all the writing in Italics is English while the normal writing is Commontongue.**

Chapter One: Theon

He'd always enjoyed going hunting. While being in Winterfell often reminded him that he was a hostage, hunting was different. It was better than just practising his archery with a still target, but both practise and actual hunting made him feel as though he still had a part of his home that he could connect to.

Hunting was brilliant, the rising anticipation as you closed in on your target, time seeming to slow as the perfect shot came into and the release which was definitely satisfying, but the best part was when the arrow hit the target. On an animal it was more brutal, but there was still that relief that all the hours of work that he'd put into it had paid off. And the thump on a still target gave him the same pleasure as he smirked at the arrow that always hit dead centre.

He'd gone through that a couple of times today, and had managed to get a deer today while the sons of his capture had only managed to get 3 rabbits between the two of them. They may have been two years younger than Theon, but he still laughed at their attempt at hunting.

In his opinion they probably should've been quite a bit better at the whole thing.

They were already on their way back to Winterfell, everyone in a good mood after hunting, including Lord Stark himself.

A scream of desperation pierced the air, echoing through the trees.

In that moment Theon first realized how quickly situations could change. From laughter to something that was determination and a desire to help. After all he knew that Lord Stark considered anyone who was in the area he ruled over under his protection, it didn't surprise him that the man immediately spurred his horse in the direction of the scream. The rest of the men immediately followed, though Robb and Jon had hesitated in front of him.

Spurring his own horse on he quickly passed them, hoping they'd get over the initial shock and follow everyone else. For once he wouldn't laugh at their reaction; this was the first time they were faced with something like this. And though this was a first for Theon too, he knew what was expected anyway.

The screams continued, along with things that sounded like words that he couldn't understand, but the terror in the voice was clear to him. When they reached the area the scream were coming from he jumped off his horse, pulling his bow off his shoulder and trying to find another place to approach from.

"Leave the girl alone" he heard Lord Stark order the men that he could see, though they just laughed. Her screams and cries continued, mixed with sobs that Theon could now hear. From his angle he could see the girl pinned to the ground by a man who looked in his 30's. But the girl... she looked even younger than him in his opinion. Maybe Robb's age, give or take a year or two.

The men laughed, not taking any of it seriously.

"Don't you see how she'd dressed?" one of them asked mockingly, though it was obvious Lord Stark wouldn't have been able to. "She's just a little whore" more laughter echoed, though the way she cried made him feel that she was just a girl they'd found. Though, from what he could see her dress was much too thin for the cold of the north.

The man on top of her was distracted, looking at the Lord of Winterfell. In that moment he grunted in pain, drawing Theon's attention back to the girl who tried to run as the man who'd been on top of her rolled to the side curled up and holding his cock, face contorted in pain. Theon almost laughed at how much of a fight this girl was putting up, and how good she was at it despite obviously not knowing what she was doing.

But her freedom was short lived as the man's hand shot out, grabbing her ankle causing her to fall to the ground.

"You little bitch" he growled, flipping her over without thought as Eddard finished reasoning with the other men, instead drawing his sword, his men quickly doing the same thing. As he pulled an arrow from his quiver and aimed, he watched the man grab the girls hair, more pleas that he couldn't understand falling from her mouth as he grabbed her, squeezing her throat.

Her eyes met Theon's right as he released the arrow, going through the throat of the man. Immediately he moved to the girl, pushing the dead man off of her body. She looked up at him, and immediately he thought that she was the most interesting thing he had ever seen. He'd never seen a person with features like hers. Her skin was dark, as though she'd been out in the sun a lot, and hair also a dark brown colour, and while those features in themselves were completely new to him the bright blue eyes shocked him most of all given her colouring. Pulling out his waterskin he passed it to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, looking her over watching as she took small sips of water before passing it back. Now he could see that the men had definitely lied, the dress the girl was wearing looked high quality and a form of silk. Still with short sleeves and given the material he could see her shaking even if she looked blankly, her head tilted to the side with a question.

"_Where am I?"_ the girl asked, and he could see how she was trying to control her sobs. He knew that she was asking something, but couldn't understand a word. And somehow felt that she couldn't understand a word that he was saying either.

"Lord Stark... she can't speak any commontongue" Theon called, as respectfully as he could manage as he kept his eyes trained on the girl shaking in from of him. Knowing that the man was now looking at him he pulled off his cloak, putting it on the girl's shoulders.

Ned walked over to where his ward was kneeling in front of the girl, who was still sitting on the ground. Theon watched as he held a hand out to the girl to help her up, and how she winced as she stood, leaning to the side. Jon and Robb looked even more stunned and confused than they had when they had originally heard the screams of the girl.

"_Thank you"_ she said, her grip tightening on Ned's hand before she led go of it, and glancing at Theon nodding at him. Although they didn't understand the words, Theon figured that all of them could tell from the look in her eyes that she was glad that they were there, and also grateful that they had saved her.

"We'll take her back to Winterfell with us... Maester Luwin may be familiar with whatever language it is that she speaks, and even if he is not he can at least tend to any of her injuries and possibly teach her commontongue" he announced, looking at his men. "She'll ride with Theon" he announced motioning for the girl to follow him. Her eyes narrowed slightly, before looked toward Theon.

"It's alright" he tried to say comfortingly, though it wasn't something that he was used to or that came naturally. Normally he would've just flirted, or said something sarcastic, but instead he nodded at her. Holding his hand out he waited patiently, watching as she slowly moved, putting her own hand into his gloved one as he began leading her to the horses.

Theon looked at her and motioned towards his horse, and watched a smile cross her face as she ran her hand down his neck. He picked her up by the waist, helping her onto the horse before sitting himself on the horse in front of her. Grabbing her hands, he pulled them so they intertwined on his stomach, her arms tightly wrapped around him as he spurred the horse on to start their way back to Winterfell. A smirk crossed his face, laughing slightly as the girl yelped, her grip on him tightening as the horse sped up.

**A/N: So that's the first chapter of the story and because this is setting it up, they'll probably end up getting shorter. I don't really know what I'm going to do with this story, but there's definitely going to be a friendship between Theon and the girl, which you may have noticed already starting up. **

**Anyway I hope you liked it, and I'll see if I can get the next chapter up for any readers as soon as possible!**


	2. II: Ned

Chapter Two: Ned

Ned wasn't surprised that the girl had taken to Theon despite the communication barrier; after all he was the one who seemed to have done the most to save her. It was however surprising for him to see how the seventeen year old had responded to the girls trust and reaction to him; after all he was being surprisingly gentle and kind to her. Of course that may have been caused by her lack of ability to communicate.

If he was being honest though, the girl... wasn't really a girl anymore. She seemed old enough to marry, around the age of his sons and given her clothing probably of noble birth.

Eddard had hoped that once they reached Winterfell everything would be sorted out, but something in him had told him not to trust that too much. Things rarely worked out as simply as one hoped, that was something he had learnt rather early on in his life and it was a lesson that he never forgot.

But his mind was still on what drove this girl so far north with no knowledge of commontongue. By her appearance he was assuming that she might have come from one of the Free Cities, but even then her features were strange, especially those blue eyes. They didn't seem to belong on the dark skin with dark hair, and somehow they did.

Now he was with Theon, who the girl didn't seem quite ready to part with yet, his wife and the girl in a guest room with Maester Luwin who had been trying to communicate with her to get her a bit more comfortable. So far nothing it seemed she understood nothing.

"My Lord, whatever it is that she speaks I am unfortunately not familiar with the language" he said softly, looking to the girl whose eyes were trained on him.

"Do you think you would be able to teach her commontongue?" Ned asked him, and a glance at his wife told him that she was thinking the same thing.

"I don't see why I couldn't" he answered, taking a few steps towards the girl. Pointing to himself he slowly began to speak, "Maester Luwin."

"Master Luwin" she parroted, her head tilted to the side questioningly.

"Maester" he corrected softly, and she nodded, seeming to try to take in the correction as best as she could.

"Maester Luwin" she mimicked again, and although she had said it with a thick accent, Ned had to smile given this had to be the furthest that they'd managed to get with her so far.

"Yes" he told her nodding, and the girl started to grin, even though it was a small success. It was in that moment that Ned realized how long teaching this girl commontongue might take, but at the same time it was the only way that they would ever be able to talk to her, hear what had brought her here. After all the only thing he could think of that would drive someone so young so far from where they were from, to a place they couldn't speak the language in such a time that they never picked up the basics, was fear.

"Zoe" the girl suddenly said; pointing to herself, a smile crossing her face as Luwin mimicked her name perfectly. Though her movement also revealed the dark bruises already forming on her wrists from where she was held in place.

"Theon go join Robb and Jon down with Ser Rodrick in the courtyard" Ned said, dismissing him as he looked at the girl. He felt like while they were checking her wounds, keeping Theon away would probably be the best idea. The ward had nodded, realizing that he didn't have much of a choice but was surprised when his cloak hit him in the back. Everyone in the room turned to Zoe, who smiled slightly and waved at Theon as she realized what must have happened. Returning the smile, with a rather confused look, he left though.

Softly, Luwin reached out, grabbing Zoe's arms from where she sat on the bed, slowly moving his grip to her wrists. She didn't pull away, but they heard the small wince of pain that left the girls mouth. Luwin immediately set to work, wrapping the girl's wrists, apparently only in order to prevent further damage.

However when Luwin reached for her injured foot she pulled away, hesitantly shaking her head, and instead reached for the bandage he was holding with a questioning look. While Ned realized the Maester wasn't really sure how to react he gave the brunette what she had wanted anyway and they watched as she slowly wrapped her own ankle. Once she was done she tied it off by herself and smiled as she moved her toes slightly.

All of them realized that it was much too soon for Luwin to check if she had any other injuries, but Cat ushered both of the men, figuring the girl might be more comfortable with just her. And this way they'd also know if there were any other severe injuries on the girl's body.

"How long do you think that it will take until she can speak?" he asked him, once they were just standing outside waiting for Cat do be done with the girl.

"It all depends on her I suppose... whether she picks things up easily and whether or not she wants to learn my lord" he answered, thinking about the girl. "However I think it will not be too long... she seems to want to be able to talk to us, and being around others her age will cause that desire to increase" he continued, as he thought to her reaction to saying his name, and how he had said hers correctly.

"Ask Cat if she can have her cleaned up and ready for dinner, maybe she will feel more welcome after she eats with us" he said, beginning to walk down the hallway to search for his children, leaving the Maester outside of the room to wait for Cat and the girl to be ready.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he wasn't surprised that there was no training going on. Instead Robb, Jon and Theon seemed perfectly happy to give an account of all that had happened on their way back from the hunt to the younger Stark children. However it was his youngest daughter's reaction that amused him the most, as she noticed him first.

"Father, Father! Father is it true that you found a girl on the hunt? That she was by herself? They were saying she can't speak commontongue! Is it true that she's from Braavos?" the girl rattled off as her other siblings came up behind her.

"Father is the girl alright?" Robb spoke loudly, over the top of his little sister giving her a pointed glare, though she only pouted as she looked to the ground. Somehow Ned still couldn't see them turning that girl into a proper young woman yet, but he supposed that he could still be proven wrong.

"Yes, Maester Luwin just looked over the wounds and it seems that she'll be just fine. Your mother is with her at the moment and getting her ready so that she might join us for dinner, though she can't speak commontongue so you'll have to be patient with her" he said calmly, seeing Arya deflate a little. 'No doubt she wanted to hear more from the girl as to where she was from' he thought to himself, a his lips twitching up into a small smile.

"What do you mean patient?" Sansa asked, looking carefully at her father. To Ned it almost sounded as though his daughter didn't really want much to do with the older girl that they found – though that might change after she met the other girl.

"It means that Maester Luwin will be trying to teach her commontongue, and I expect all of you to help her while she is learning because it could be hard but she does seem an intelligent enough girl" he said calmly, looking all of his children in the eye before he looked at Theon. "That includes you as well Theon, since the ride she seems to trust you the most which is understandable enough given what could have happened. I think that she's also fully aware what her fate would've been had we not been there."

His children had all nodded, Arya seeming quite excited about the whole thing compared to the others, though he had no doubt that Jon and Robb would both be quite helpful as well.

However Ned supposed he'd just have to watch how things play out this evening while they were at dinner.

**A/N: So here's the second chapter, I hope you liked it even if it took me a bit longer to write this than I might have hoped. I'd like to quickly thank all the people who followed this story, and of course those that added it to their favourites. **

**Next chapter... well I'm thinking we'll either be going into Jon or Robb's point of view, though I might just make it one in Zoe's point of view just so you get to know a little more about her.**

**So thank you all, and till next time!**


End file.
